The part of military camouflage has as alternative objectives the concealment of a potential target (building, road or pathway, aircraft, weapon emplacement, tank, etc.), or the simulation of a false target or decoy which attracts attention away from true targets. In earlier times, camouflage mats or nets covered the target, and were designed only to avoid visual target detection by presenting an appearance unlike a target and similar to the surrounding terrain. Such simple visual camouflage thus consisted of a covering surface which was painted or otherwise configured to appear as an ordinary ground or terrain surface, while concealing the target beneath.
Visual camouflage remains of great importance, but the requirement for concealment is enlarged and complicated by the development of other types of military sensing and viewing devices. Older forms of camouflage may thus be useless as a countermeasure to radar surveillance, as well as to interrogation systems using electromagnetic wavelengths in the ultraviolet and infrared regions. An unprotected and operating military tank or other vehicle, for example, is easily seen by infrared sensors which detect heat (infrared) radiation emitted by the machine's hot engine and exhaust system.
Modern camouflage is accordingly designed to provide multispectral (ultraviolet, visual, infrared, and radar wavelengths) protection, and typical examples of such camouflage matting are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,287,243 and 4,528,229. Broadly, the present invention is directed to improvements to the general style of mat described in these patents; and to a camouflage system creating a three-dimensional effect, and which is an effective countermeasure to both active and passive surveillance equipment operating in a broad range of frequencies or wavelengths ranging from ultraviolet through visible and infrared into the microwave area.
When target concealment is the objective, knowledge of the terrain characteristics (e.g., farmland, woodland, snow, swamp, desert, etc.) is essential if the risk of target detection is to be minimized. The camouflage should minimize or eliminate contrast of the target against the background terrain, suppress transmission of energy (e.g., far infrared) emanating from the target, and reflect, scatter, or absorb incoming target-illuminating energy beams (e.g., radar, sunlight, laser coherent radiation, etc.) in a fashion simulating the return or signature of the surrounding terrain. The main thrust of the present invention is to give the camouflage designer greater flexibility in creating customized target-concealing devices effective against both near and distant observers or sensors, and also to enable the accurate simulation of a target if the objective is to create a decoy or false target.